Can You See What Hashtags People Follow On Instagram? This New Feature Isn't Private For Everyone

In the last few weeks, Instagram has been keeping users pretty busy with fun updates. And now, on Dec. 12, they released yet another update, which allows users to follow hashtags instead of just other users. The update fosters a sense of community on the app, encouraging users to explore other profiles, see new photos, and stay up to date on the topics they're most interested in, which is all great. One question, though: can you see what hashtags people follow on Instagram?

Anyone who uses Instagram to get their snoop on is probably pretty curious about whether or not you can know who's following which hashtag. And hey, I don't judge! Who hasn't taken a peek at who their crush follows? Who hasn't been curious about who celebrities choose to pay attention to on Instagram? Is there anyone who can really say they haven't wanted to check if their significant other is still following their ex? Let's be real here — Instagram makes snooping just a little bit easier, and it's a tough habit to ignore completely.

So, maybe you want to know if your significant other has started to follow a shady hashtag that might indicate something weird is going on. Or, perhaps your intentions are more pure, and you just want to know which hashtags your BFF follows so that you can figure out what kind of gift to buy them for the holidays. I don't know your life! You do you! But I do know that, for the most part, you can see which hashtags people follow on Instagram under two conditions. One is if they have a public profile — even if you don't follow them, you'll still be able to see the hashtags they follow, just like you can see the accounts they follow. However, if they have a private profile, that changes: you can only see who they follow and what hashtags they follow if they've approved you as one of their followers. Privacy is pretty big at Instagram, and that extends to hashtags.

Instagram

If you think about it, this makes sense. A list of people someone follows is already private to the public on private accounts — why would a list of hashtags someone follows be any different? If someone has opted to keep their profile private and only available to those they manually approve to follow them, they should be able to keep everything from the public, including whether or not they follow #nailart or #ootd.

So, let's say you want to see what hashtags a private account you follow has on their following list, or you want to see what hashtags a public account follows. Good news: It's as simple as going to their profile and clicking the "following" button. Hashtags are in the same spot as friends, which makes the process simple and easy — just tap the hashtag button on their followers list, and you'll see a list of all the tags that account follows.

Are you wondering why this kind of information is necessary? Seeing what kind of hashtags someone follows could be kind of fun. It can help you figure out what kind of topics and hobbies someone is interested in — for example, if you see that the person you just started dating is following the #baseball hashtag, you can assume they love baseball. It can also give you your own following inspiration — if you like an account, check out which hashtags they're following, and you might find something new and fun to follow as well. It's all apart of Instagram's goal to make the app an even more social environment.